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Monday, November 2, 2015

Good vs Perfect

This is the map of the West Bank that was proposed back in 2000. In exchange for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state in just about the entire West Bank, Israel asked for an "end of the conflict."

Many Palestinian moderates of the time (including Edward Said) have adamantly rejected this proposal because it didn't allow for millions of Palestinians to "return" to Israeli lands (in quotes because most would have been descendants that were not actually born in Israel) -- and thus destroying Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

It's been 15 years since that proposal. Many wars have waged since, and many lives and opportunities lost. Although Israelis have suffered greatly during these 15 years of wars, I can't help but get upset at the thought of how the Palestinians have been betrayed by Arafat and the rest of their leadership.

15 years!! An entire generation of Palestinians could have been raised as citizens in their own state, free to build a better future for themselves, had this very reasonable proposal been accepted. Instead, all they got was stagnation, corruption, wars, and humiliation.

Now I'm not saying that this proposal was perfect, nor that it's reasonable to implement it now. It seems like so much has changed for both Israelis and Palestinians.

A wise person once told me "not to let the perfect get in the way of the good." It's a shame that 15 years ago, perfection got its way.